Garland sells to McDonald Funeral Homes

WALNUT/ROCK FALLS – McDonald Funeral Homes is expanding southward, giving the business a presence in three counties – Whiteside, Carroll and Bureau.

Rock Falls-based McDonald bought Garland Funeral Home and Monument Co., bringing businesses in Walnut and Tampico into the McDonald fold. There also are McDonald Funeral Homes in Rock Falls, Sterling, Prophetstown, Fulton and Milledgeville.

Tom Garland and wife, Deb, bought what was then Allen Funeral Home from Donald Allen in 1984. The Garlands had been with Allen since 1978.

Garland, 69, said he has considered relinquishing the ownership reins for a while, but he plans to continue working at the Walnut and Tampico funeral homes.

“I think age is catching up with me after all the long days,” Garland said. “With this arrangement, I can do what I enjoy, and do it on my own terms.”

The Garlands have no retirement time frame, he said, and new owner Joseph McDonald, also the Whiteside County coroner, said he’s happy to have them there.

“I would guess I’d be around several years with the two funeral homes, and then I can slowly wean myself from them,” Garland said.

The Garlands and McDonald have been linked for more than 20 years. Sterling native McDonald received Garland’s help while getting his business set up in 1995.

“When we first began construction in 1995, we already had families that wanted us to serve them, and Tom graciously let us use their facilities through part of 1996,” McDonald said.

McDonald’s first funeral home was a new building with a crematory in Rock Falls. The business first expanded in 2003, buying an existing building that would become the Prophetstown funeral home. The former Allen-Grennan sites in Sterling and Milledgeville were purchased from the Alderwoods Group in December 2004. McDonald then moved into Fulton in April 2008.

Throughout the years, the owners have covered for each other when they were out of town. Those years of working together made the purchase seem like a natural step to take, McDonald said.

“We’re used to their facilities and equipment, and our staffs have worked well together before,” McDonald said. “Tom will help out from time to time because he still wants to serve the people of those communities.”

The combined staff, which will remain intact, now numbers about 20.

When he and Scott Sheets started the first funeral home in Rock Falls, with no staff, he never could have envisioned what the business has become, McDonald said.

In his business, he sees growth as a byproduct of something much bigger.

“This is a ministry – a calling that takes dedication and a lot of giving to your communities, and in doing so, growth just happened,” McDonald said.

The McDonald-Garland deal, which includes Garland’s monument business, was finalized Wednesday.

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